~This is a new post~

The other day I saw a young couple, a man and a woman, sitting on a porch step, leaning on one another and sharing a bottle of beer.

Their were smiling.

They sat in silence, just a couple of kids, as the evening sun tossed shadows across the front lawn, staring bright eyed at the empty U-haul truck parked in the driveway.

I was in my car waiting for the light to turn green.

The voyeur in me, strained his neck and looked through the bare bay window. Brown boxes were stacked high and something big and white, maybe a mattress, was leaning against the living room wall as if to catch its breath.

A quiet scene, on a quite Friday afternoon, just bursting with possibility.

Do you remember being young and starting something new?

Moving. Getting married. A new job.

When you’re young, change was thrilling. Mysterious. A pivotal part maturity. And in those days you were agile enough to maneuver amongst the change.

But we grow up, our knees creak dry, and we strap and strap and strap ourselves with the weights of life. We stop moving, rub our knees, and start accepting. In short– we get old.

Starting over is hard. But when we’re older and forced to start over we’re not–as the cliche’ goes–“starting from scratch.”

We haven’t started from scratch in years. You’re more wiser than you’ve ever been. You have years of experience. Years of successes and failures. Years of practice.

And though you’re foundation may be a little cracked and weathered it’s a foundation you can build something important on.

Starting Over Again

I woke up on February 16th and decided to start running again.

Was I scared? Yes.

But truth–I don’t like myself when I’m complaining and making excuses. And lately, I’ve been entertaining too many excuses.  Call me masochistic, but I’ll take the fleeting physical pain then enduring the emotional burden of being unhappy any day.

My problem is in my brain– you can say there’s no escape.  But you don’t have the luxury of running away from your problems either.

I’ve come to realize that our actions, or inaction– our inertia, defines who we are. And moving on, starting over, just one step at a time, to discover new personal truths is the only way to happiness.

We either practice, improve, and advance or we don’t. As Ryan Holiday bluntly wrote in his book The Obstacle is the Way, “No one is coming to save you.”

And no one is coming to help you move either. You have unload the U-haul by yourself.

One box at a time.

Be well,

Jay

PS (Please Share) – If you know someone who is thinking about making a change please share this post with them.

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